This arrived in my inbox through LinkedIn yesterday. A request to connect from Christy Walton of the Walton Family (think Wal-mart).
Wow! Who wouldn't say yes? I visited the profile, read the information. All looks legit. Even the number of connections confirmed that the account had been around a while. I accepted the invite and went on about my day.
This morning I received a personal email from Mrs. Walton (I say sarcastically, lol). It came from her "personal email" at: Christy Walton <waltonchristy_privatemail----1@yahoo>. Hmmm... so if that didn't seem strange enough. Here is the email in it's entirety:
"Greetings to you my Beloved,
I must say my spirit has been lifted since I received your mail indicating your willingness to assist me with this humanitarian project, Yes I am a christian and I hope the Good GOD has been doing exceedingly wonders in your life and family as whole. I did asked God to direct me of whom will handle this charity foundation in good faith, and I followed my heart to contact you personally after fasting and praying, Hope you are not going to let me down,
Once again, I am Christy Ruth Walton the widow of John T. Walton, and John T. Walton is one of the sons of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. After John's death (My Late Husband) in June 2005, I inherited his fortune of US$18.2 billion which ranks me as the 6th richest person in the United States, and the 9th richest person in the world, as of November 2013. You can read more about me on Google.
Life has given me my own share of its misfortunes. I have only one son (Lukas) who have engaged me in legal battles over the years on trusteeship of his fathers trust fund and has been using funds on illegal drugs. but the greatest of my woes is that I am suffering from a long time cancer of the breast that has affected my heart and my doctors said that I have a very short time to live, I do not want to leave my enormous wealth behind for my wayward kid, hence I want to use part of my wealth for charity, the others I have willed to my loyal staffs. But this very fund is estimated ($500,000,000.00) Five Hundred Million Dollars, which i want to use to establish a charity foundation with your help to reach out to the less privilege, orphans and homeless people around the world, better still invest this fund into your business or in a Real Estate and use the returns to help the poor with that my heart will me gladdens dead or alive.
Due to my state of health its only with your cooperation and efforts that this project can see the light of the day. So I use this medium to implore you to do all you have to do to make this a reality. I may not live to see the realization of this project but I have implicit confidence that you would be able to complete this humanitarian project at all cost. I am presently under going treatment here at St John and St. Elizabeth Hospital here, My heart accepted you after previewing your profile, and I fasted and prayed over it, and then decided to release this sum of ($500,000,000.00) Five Hundred Million Dollars to you or your company to set up a CHARITY FOUNDATION, knowing fully well that you can handle it successfully, Please ensure that you do not fail me and do not delay in getting the funds released to you soonest as this is the only thing that will gladden my hear dead or alive.
Note: Due to the current criticisms from my family and that of my son against my wealth and of how I am giving out money to the poor, My advice is that you keep this transaction only to yourself for the main time, By the time we achieve this you wont be able to know the number of lives we can impact with this project which is what I have promised GOD, I know it's might be little hard on you to handle but I always pray for God's Exceeding Grace and faith on you. I believe in you and I know you will never let me down. Meanwhile you are to take out %2 of the total fund after which the funds are successfully transferred to you for your job well done, while the rest will be used to establish a charity foundation to help the poor around your City, state and other countries you can think of.
In my next email I shall provide the Agreement Documents prepared by my Legal Counsel for you to sign your on your own part of the agreement But first I would expect same gesture from you so that we can proceed further. Your details would also be required by my Legal Counsel to prepare cover documents for this project, so Kindly provide your details, your company details alongside with your direct phone number so that my attorney can speak with you if needed.
Make sure you provide as stated above so that I can forward it to my Attorney for document preparation in the course of this charity project and the transfer of the funds to you:
I wait to hear from you as soon as possible. Here is my direct line: (307)-%%%-4530 I might not have the strength to speak on the phone at the moment due to my condition, Text message will be just fine.
God Bless You. Christy Ruth Walton"
I giggled a bit as I read this email, a direct number and because I lack strength, text me. LOL! I am almost certain the person who wrote this earned an "A" in creative writing class. If they didn't, they should have. And perhaps they will consider taking their efforts into the world of ghostwriting for the fiction based genres.
I don't know the Walton family or even anyone who does. I do believe that someone will read this post and share it with someone else and the chain will continue until the PR person handling the social media sites for Mrs. Walton hears about it and the account is reset or deleted.
A few tips I've learned over the years online:
1. Don't click funny looking links.
2. People who are offering to share money with you don't do it through email. They do it through the USPS via registered letters that come from an attorney you can easily google, call and even go to their office.
3. Any email about friends traveling who lost their wallet, need thousands wired and yet there is no way to contact them and talk to them, is a fake.
4. Because of the perceived anonymity of the internet, people do things that are not on the up and up. Be safe. Take precautions and don't allow anyone to push you into doing anything through the internet.
5. Reputable people and companies have websites, business information, dba's, legal ways to be checked upon. Use them!
Fortunately the majority of people online are amazing! Here to share the good, to uplift the spirits of others and to make this world a better place. That's what I love about the internet!
Caryn FitzGeraldAuthor, Speaker, Leadership & Significance Coach
Caryn FitzGerald – nicknamed “The Manifesting Queen” for her ability to set an intention, focus and create it – is a leadership & significance coach, author, speaker, and hostess of the radio show, “Coffee & Coaching with Caryn.” She specializes in assisting people who are at a cross-roads in life or business, to shift their mindset and actions, creating a pathway to continue on their journey towards attaining their goals and bringing their dreams to life!
www.CarynFitzgerald.com
